Friday, May 27, 2011

Zimmerman to Boost Arlington Chamber in Return for Sun Gazette Boosting Dem Candidates

Hello Yupette,

In case you wondered why Sun Gazette editor and Arlington Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee member Scott McCaffrey won't provide any information about Green Party candidate for County Board Audrey Clement it's because he's made a deal with County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman whereby Zimmerman will hold a series of exclusive meetings with Arlington Chamber of Commerce members (the first two are June 10th and June 20th) in return for McCaffrey boosting Arlington's Democratic candidates and ignoring their challengers. It's unclear what additional "comps" Boss Zimmerman and Sarasota Scotty will receive from this arrangement. Aren't we paying Zimmerman $55,000 a year to represent everyone's interests as an elected public official?

Green Businessperson

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wondered why McCaffrey won't write anything positive about Audrey Clement.

Anonymous said...

Pretty outrageous, but that's the way things are trending in Arlington the past couple of years.

Anonymous said...

I blame the Washington Post for setting a precedent with its outrageously biased coverage of the Fenty-Gray race last year.

retail shop owner said...

I would have to be nuts to go along with the Zimmerman-Chamber agenda: grow small business to fund Zimmerman's mega billion vanity project spending spree with double-digit tax increases on small business.

Anonymous said...

Nice that Zimmy is cozying up to Shooshan, Dittmar, and the others on the Chamber's B.O.D. who are looking to get super rich urbanizing our residential neighborhoods.

Westover said...

McCaffrey, Zimmerman, and their pals from the REITS, CPRO, AHC, etc., are all going to be outta Arlington in 5-10 years living lives of luxury off the profits they made from destroying our residential neighborhoods.

Anonymous said...

Post and it's corporate owners are furious that Gray derailed "resegregation through gentrification".

Anonymous said...

Neither the Chamber nor County Board will make Zimmerman's comments available to the public, e.g., small business.

IT Guy said...

Same Chamber that's outsourcing local IT jobs which don't require a security clearance to China.

Anonymous said...

Next extravagance will be a $50 million boathouse in Rosslyn.

Donna said...

McCaffrey's total compensation will be more than $200,000 this year, plus whatever he can obtain in comps and freebies. The three priorities of local journalists and journalism are $, $$, and $$$.

McCaffrey fashions himself a Republican but approves the County Board's extravagant spending for vanity projects and programs.

Anonymous said...

Insofar as I can determine, no local "journalist" has ever opposed the extravagant spending for the Artisphere.

Anonymous said...

Something you will not see in the Sun Gazette - appears that the completion date for the $18 million Cherrydale Fire Station will again be pushed back, to Sepetember or October.

Joan22207 said...

If we had honest journalism in Arlington Barbara Favola would have been forced to resign 8 years ago.

Cindy said...

If we had honest journalism in Arlington, Mary Hynes and Libby Garvey would have been forced to resign from the school board ten years ago, after the near-collapse of south Arlington's public schools.

Anonymous said...

If the Washington Post were an honest newspaper Jim Moran would have been history in 2004.

Anonymous said...

McCaffrey hypes every gimme group and vanity program and project no matter how wasteful and/or extravagant. His attacks on the fiscally conservative Greens are part of the price of his admission to the Chamber's Executive Committee.

22201 resident said...

Never mind her massive conflict of interest with Marymount University, Barbara Favola should have been forced to resign years ago over the Cherrydale fire station fiasco.

Anonymous said...

Moran stays in Congress because of his wife's friendships with the Post's executives and their pet charities.

Mark said...

McCaffrey was called "corrupt" by the Historic Vienna blog two years ago based on his editorial antics reporting Town of Vienna meetings.

22205 said...

Falls Church News-Press is worse.

Anonymous said...

Moran is still serving in Congress because of his and his wife's personal friendships with Post execs.

Anonymous said...

Worst is Diana Sun, Zimmerman's Minister of County Board Propaganda and her crew at AVN. They will do whatever Zimmerman orders.

Anonymous said...

Benton and McCaffrey are the worst of local journalism.

Anonymous said...

Diana Sun is a total Yuptard.

T.Y. said...

Why is there never a video shown on AVN about middle class people being gentrified out of their homes because of Zimmerman's massive gentrification program? We pay for AVN.

Anonymous said...

Why is there never a video shown on AVN about young Arlington teachers not being able to fund affordable apartments in Arlington?

Anonymous said...

Don't bother to post anything critical of any of McCaffrey's favorite gimme groups on the SG blog. Your posting will never appear.

Anonymous said...

As my paternal grandmother and great aunt used to say: "They're all a bunch of crooks!"

Anonymous said...

The CEO of the Sun Gazette's parent, American Community Newspapers, is Richards Franks. His e-mail address is dfranks at acnpapers dot com.

Anonymous said...

Benton's and McCaffrey's other big conflict of interest is teardowns for McMansions and mixed-use redevelopment. The more real estate ad revenue the better. Nevermind the quality of life in the neighborhoods that are 'plutocrated' by their realtor buddies.

Anonymous said...

"Benton's and McCaffrey's other big conflict of interest is teardowns for McMansions and mixed-use redevelopment. The more real estate ad revenue the better. Nevermind the quality of life in the neighborhoods that are 'plutocrated' by their realtor buddies."

It seems every time I walk through or drive through any part of Arlington, another older house that could have been renovated is torn down and another d--n McMansion at least twice the size is going up. "Green"? I'll bet dollars to donuts those monsters use far more energy to heat and cool, etc. than a 70 year old bungalow or Cape Cod.

Anonymous said...

The need is for 3-bedroom 2-bath ranch or rambler homes, one floor with a basement, for young families and seniors. They are relatively easy to upgrade for energy efficiency. The County Board is not interested in seniors or young families - as we witnessed when East Falls Church came before the County Board.

Anonymous said...

Bet another donut that McCaffrey will retire to Myrtle Beach where there is no pretense that planning is done by anyone other than the realtors, REITs, and chamber of commerce.

FC Guy said...

Benton is literally the "Godfather" of Falls Church via the Falls Church News-Press which he owns. He's a big Nanny Newsie blowhard, like McCaffrey who's aiming at becoming a Nick Benton wannabe.